I wonder if there was a way to create an irrgular window in Java... by "irregular" I mean that it can be, for example, a triangle window, or a circular window, or even a window with transparent hole in it!

Does anyone knows how to do that in Java ? or is there any lib (native or not) available on the web to do that ?

If you use a "Window" not a "Frame" you do away with all the titlebars, window frame etc. Then you can use a pixel-grabber to snapshot the screen contents behind your window, and paint them over the top to make your window effectively transparent. Then you're free to draw whatever shape windows you want!

PROS: Works pretty much everywhere without need for external libraries.

CONS: A lot more work, and you have to draw all the window decorations you want manually.

Hrm, with the requirement to properly handle window events as well, I'm afraid you're high and dry. There's no way I know to do that in a platform-independant way. You will probably have to drop back to JNI, get a handle to the window and manipulate it directly with native windowing commands. Ouch.

argh! why do people post in languages other than english? english the the most common language here as this is a forum and the whole purpose is to let people communicate. i'm sure everyone would understand me typing swedish!

bad english is also ok! (i know you french people don't like it very much)

Hem, sorry, guys. The little french sentence was to ask about the origin of ch*man's nick. There are times you feel quite alone as a French citizen, actually more than ever. Some 'native' words help sometimes. Well... Enough drama, will not do that again, i swear. (moreover, i wasn't sure to explain myself correctly in english.. that was a lazy solution as well. )

Back on topic. After re reading the bug report i posted here, and the answer from sun, i'm not sure that the RFE is to be implemented. Isn't there an AWT team member reading us?

Rounded corners, or completely wacky UI shapes like the skinned views of latest MS Media players.. That's the sort of stuff that we need.

It would also be a way to drag arbitrary objects over the desktop.. instead of just getting some lame cursor that doesn't really show what is happening.

I think it is time to add support for windows with an alpha channel (even if it is restricted to 1-bit on some platforms) to Java. All popular windowing systems support this feature now, so it makes sense.

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